East Lake pounds Pirates, 49-15 in 7A-3 final

It was a bad start and even a worse finish for the Port Charlotte High football team.

East Lake (Tarpon Springs) reeled off three touchdowns in the first 7 minutes, 51 seconds and never looked back in a 49-15 rout of the Pirates in the Class 7A-Region 3 final Friday night at the Eagles Stadium.

“I did a terrible job getting our kids ready for this environment for this stage,” Port Charlotte second-year coach Jordan Ingman said. “We came out tight. We put the ball on the ground. We did some uncharacteristic things tonight.”

The game ended with Port Charlotte’s Shacquille Williams being ejected for a hit on East Lake’s Noah Vazquez, who lay motionless on the field for 15 minutes before being carted away via ambulance.

“Very disappointed,” Ingman said. “I take our character in our kids more seriously than anything that goes across that scoreboard. One of our young men lost his cool. It’s a bad representation of a lot of young men that are tremendous in our program.”

East Lake (13-0) scored the first two times it had the ball, needing five plays on its first drive and two on its second. Both ended with George Campbell on the receiving end of a Jake Hudson pass, the first covering four yards, the second for nine. Campbell also had a 50-yard reception on the first drive.

Clemson-bound Artavis Scott made it 21-0 going 72 yards untouched with a punt return with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter.

“When you play a great football team, such as they are, they make you pay for it,” Ingman said. “At this stage in the playoffs, that’s what you should do, and they did. They are a great football team. We got outcoached, outplayed, outhit, out-executed, out-everything and that’s my fault.”

Playing in the regional final for the first time in school history, the Pirates (10-2) attempted to make a game of it, getting on the board late in the first quarter.

An interception by Christian Coffelletto led to a 27-yard run by junior Anthony Stephens. As the quarterback in the wildcat formation, Stephens took the direct snap and burst 27 yards up the middle.

“They were real good,” said Stephens, a transfer from the Imagine School in North Port who led the Pirates with 45 rushing yards. “They had a lot of strength, mostly what they were built of. It was hard for us to get that middle run, and they were also stopping the outside. They had us blocked the whole game.”

Prior to Stephens’ run, Port Charlotte had zero yards on nine plays, not including losing 16 on a mishandled snap on a punt leading to the Eagles’ second score.

“Physical,” Ingman said of East Lake’s strength. “They are unlike any physical team we’ve seen. Their offensive line is gigantic. They’ve got skill kids that can take a small seam and take it to the house. They’ve got a lot of kids who will play on Saturdays. And they are very well coached.”

The Eagles scored two more times in the second quarter on a 16-yard pass from Hudson to Dillon Zettwuch and a 15-yard run by Scott on the final play of the half.

Port Charlotte finished the first half with 23 yards, all on the ground.

“We tried the wildcat and it was working for a little bit, but then they easily stopped that,” Stephens said.

Son of head coach Bob Hudson, Jake Hudson threw his fourth and fifth touchdown passes of the game to Zettwuth (10 yards) and Campbell (45 yards) making it 49-7 and starting a running clock for the fourth quarter.

“It was a big-time environment, two games away from state, a lot on the line,” Ingman said. “Our program has never been here before. I didn’t do a good job of preparing them for what they were going to see tonight.”

Ian Tyler and Jake Hobbs recovered fumbles in the fourth quarter, when East Lake emptied its bench. The second recovery led to the Pirates’ second score.

Quarterback Traige McClary completed his only pass of the game, a 20-yarder to Paulsin Heitter. McClary also connected with Tyler for the 2-point conversion.

That is when Port Charlotte went for the onside kick with 12 seconds remaining.

Williams was called for the penalty and ejected after East Lake recovered the onside kick. After Vazquez was taken off the field, the penalty was marked off and the final dozen seconds ticked off the clock.

“It shakes me to the core when one of our young men doesn’t handle adversity correctly,” Ingman said. “It shakes me up.”

Play began getting chippy from the second quarter on. Both sides were hit with unsportsmanlike and personal foul penalties.

“We sat kids. We pulled them out,” Ingman said. “We did a lot of uncharacteristic things tonight. We didn’t handle adversity the way we have this year, and that’s my fault.”

It was an unfitting ending to the best season in Port Charlotte football history. The Pirates established a school record for victories and won their first two playoff games in the 32-year history of the program.

“We came a long way,” Stephens said. “The first time ever in Port Charlotte history this ever happened. I’m just proud that happened. I’m glad to be part of a good organization.”

“It’s a bad end to a tremendous season,” Ingman said.

After winning its first regional title, East Lake will be home Friday to entertain Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens), which knocked off St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale).

Dennis Maffezzoli

Dennis Maffezzoli is the chief reporter for HT Preps. He can be reached by email or call (941) 315-0598.

Last modified: November 29, 2013
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